Hawks Trade Lou Williams, Lucas Nogueira To Raptors For John Salmons

The Hawks must be serious about their cap flexibility this summer, because they’ve traded away last year’s first-round pick, Lucas Nogueira, to dump some money. Lou Williams’ contract would have counted for about $5.5 million in the upcoming season, but they’ve swapped it for John Salmons’ contract, which is only partially guaranteed. They’ll waive Salmons shortly. From ESPN.com:

The Hawks, sources say, will immediately waive Salmons to expand their projected salary-cap space for this summer to $15.5 million, though one source cautioned Sunday that the move is more about flexibility and roster-shaping for the Hawks than any specific free-agent target.

ESPN.com reported earlier this week that the Raptors engaged in serious discussions on draft day to swap Salmons and his cap-friendly contract for Grizzlies swingman Tayshaun Prince and Memphis’ first-round pick (No. 22). But those talks collapsed when two players Toronto was targeting in that draft range — Tyler Ennis and Gary Harris — were gone by the time the Raptors made their first selection of the round, drafting Brazilian project Bruno Caboclo at No. 20 overall.